Your Highness? An Interesting Evolution
That looks . . . unworthy of comment.
Yeah, I’d say he has to pay the bills and everything and he was undoubtedly crushed by not being able to direct Confederacy of Dunces after putting so much work into the project….. but, yeah, that’s no justification for what looks like a Pauly Shore comedy with talented actors! Egads.
^^the guy directed Pineapple Express. i think it’s wrong to have any serious expectations ;-0(
This looks great… I saw an extended look at NYCC this year and it was funny. I love Danny McBride as well, but I love how David mixes up his style this should be a great time in theaters.
I’m making naturalistic slice-of-life dramas but what I really want to do is make stoner comedies.
Wow, this looks like shit. I’ve seen of this guy’s films, one is even part of my great 2000’s films (so far) but I’ll be damned if I see this and Coconut Express or whatever…
Uh. Whoa.
Well, that Muppet at the end looks pretty funny, but I don’t think that’s going to cut it.
The trailer makes that look pretty weak, but we all know not to judge something based on the trailer.
David Gordon Green and Danny McBride do seem to be developing a certain Director/Actor relationship, though. The episodes of Eastbound and Down that Green has directed have all been very good (though the show in general is very good) and I, for one, am interested to see where this relationship heads. Or maybe they just enjoy smoking weed and talking about the south, who knows.
-Yeah, I’d say he has to pay the bills and everything and he was undoubtedly crushed by not being able to direct Confederacy of Dunces after putting so much work into the project….. but, yeah, that’s no justification for what looks like a Pauly Shore comedy with talented actors! Egads-
Yeah, and his next film, which imdb lists as “filming” is another comedy, described thusly, “a comedy about a college student on suspension who is coaxed into babysitting the kids next door, though he is fully unprepared for the wild night ahead of him.” So, basically, Adventures in Babysitting starring Jonah Hill.
^ David Gordon Green
“Yeah, I’d say he has to pay the bills and everything and he was undoubtedly crushed by not being able to direct Confederacy of Dunces after putting so much work into the project….. but, yeah, that’s no justification for what looks like a Pauly Shore comedy with talented actors! Egads.”
I’m not sure about that. If he develops a track record of making profitable comedies (which he is certainly doing) he does gain more leverage in the industry. It’s bad business to say no to a guy who has made you a lot of money…
I don’t think Apatow could have made Funny People without having had directed and/or produced a string of very profitable films.
Val Kilmer made a string of the worst films he has ever made in his entire career lately – and at the end of the tunnel there is his long gestating, intricately researched film about Mark Twain where he will direct and star. If this is what DGG is doing, great! It’s not a perfect world, and there’s nothing wrong with making some money to make other films if the alternative is not making films at all. If not, then I’m not excited for his future projects. Oh well, it happens.
The trailer doesn’t look that great, but the cast paired with DGG gives me complete confidence in the picture. As long as they’re a little more willing to trim the fat then with Pineapple Express (overlong, but still funny as hell) then this could be great. I kind of doubt they could’ve gotten this cast and director unless the script was exceptionally funny. I’m just extremely happy that Danny McBride is getting to star in something.
And maybe it’s just me, but “Magic… motherfucker” is one of the best lines I’ve heard in a trailer in months.
Man, of man, I did not at all like Pineapple Express. I am not annoyed that David Gordon Green is directing stuff like this, because, hey, if he wants to, more power to him, but that doesn’t mean I have to see it. George Washington is a great film, and I need to see the rest of his filmography, but I don’t like the way this one looks.
Savvy
“Val Kilmer made a string of the worst films he has ever made in his entire career lately – and at the end of the tunnel there is his long gestating, intricately researched film about Mark Twain where he will direct and star. If this is what DGG is doing, great! It’s not a perfect world, and there’s nothing wrong with making some money to make other films if the alternative is not making films at all. If not, then I’m not excited for his future projects. Oh well, it happens.”
yeah but generally that kind of thing doesn’t turn out very well though. like how Deniro supposedly made all those shit movies to co-finance ‘The Good Shepherd’ or how Kevih Smith only made Mallrats to raise money for a series of independently produced features.
good idea though
-I’m not sure about that. If he develops a track record of making profitable comedies (which he is certainly doing) he does gain more leverage in the industry.-
Maybe—and this is assuming that these films do the same level of business as Pineapple—but isn’t it just as likely in today’s Hollywood climate that he gets pigeon-holed as a director of Seth Rogen/Danny McBride/Jonah Hill-orbit comedies? I have to believe he’s getting calls from people who have a great idea for someone with a great idea for a film that’d be perfect for Paul Rudd.
Aptow’s a bit different (I think Funny People is unequivocably his worst film, but that’s another discussion) in that he started out doing comedy and smuggling in bits of seriousness on the sly. I’m not sure it’s as easy a career trajectory to go from straight drama to straight comedy, then back to drama, i.e. to mature as a director making (what, at least on the surface, appear to be) immature comedies.
The way people ignore comedy on this website makes me assume that all of you must be the funniest living people on this planet, with no time for anything less than the most sophisticated humor ever to grace human beings. A former professor of mine named Jack DiMasi who was taught by Martin Scorsese at NYU before becoming an on staff professor there himself, often told us stories about how Scorsese believed there was nothing harder than making a comedy, and how most filmmakers who have tried would tend to agree with that.
There are a lot of different types of creative intelligence, and it seems like DGG is most proficient in the art of the humorous / whimsical. He applies consciousness to films while remaining a safe distance from the realm of hyper-seriousness. Similar to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, most of his work works on many levels, and could be found interesting by art-house enthusiasts and more casual film watchers alike. I remember seeing a Q&A with him where he explained he had never made anything that wasn’t a comedy before George Washington (which happens to be one of my favorite films.) As strange as it sounds, having grown up around the type of people being comically depicted in the film, I think that Pineapple Express is actually deceptively deep. Green is clearly very observant, and his commentary on stoner culture is so spot on. There is a great scene in the movie where James Franco shows off his new stereo to Seth Rogan, and plays Moondog’s “Bird’s Lament”, until a few loser customers with Wal-Mart-like jackets and mullets come up stairs to buy pot from him. He quickly changes the station on his satellite radio to west coast gangster rap, in order to make a transition into the hardened drug dealer facade. I don’t know many people familiar with pot culture who haven’t watched otherwise harmless kids try to build a tough identity around what they believe a drug dealer should be like, and I think that was one of Green’s many clever annotations. The characters’ persona’s and the way they behave with one another is very honest and well thought out throughout the entire movie.
He’s proven to be very versatile and capricious, but I think he’s playing to his strengths by working on comedies for the mean time. I’m happy to know that there is are filmmakers with talent who see things with a sense of humor rather through grim, misanthropic and/or downright boring eyes.
P.S. I agree with Rich Uncle Skeleton on Eastbound and Down. The show is good regardless but the episodes Green has directed have really stood out.
Ugh. Horrible film, horrible accents. Those actors aren’t even trying.
Ugh. Horrible film, horrible accents. Those actors aren’t even trying.
What are their accents supposed to sound like? Authentic wizard-fighting accents?
yeah but generally that kind of thing doesn’t turn out very well though. like how Deniro supposedly made all those shit movies to co-finance ‘The Good Shepherd’ or how Kevih Smith only made Mallrats to raise money for a series of independently produced features.
good idea though
I don’t see how either of their efforts could have been expected to result in anything worth seeing, though. It’s not as if Deniro has a long track record of bankrolling amazing material, and Kevin Smith is Kevin Smith. DGG has already made a popular film, so that already invalidates the concerns of Mallrats, and he has already made good films, so it’s a different scenario. Brad Pitt has made films for the money (Mr. And Mrs. Smith, anyone?) and is now personally financing Malick’s next film. All you can ask for is the opportunity,
The way people ignore comedy on this website makes me assume that all of you must be the funniest living people on this planet
Guilty as charged, however my main focus in films is comedies. I do agree that people seem to ignore them, though, which is a shame. But, then, I’m still not one who prefers to settle for less. Give me Fasshbinder’s Lola over Old School.
“But, then, I’m still not one who prefers to settle for less.” I don’t think there is anything wrong with being selective and conscious of what you are watching. But as we both know the more someone increases their standards the more it begins to work against them. Ask the high school nerd waiting for the right socially informed, free spirited super model to come and find him how it’s working out thus far. ;)
“What are their accents supposed to sound like?”
Actually british. Natalie Portman is the worse of the lot.
I am not knocking comedy. I laughed at some of those lines in the trailer (if your vagina is like my hand…), but, and perhaps I’d be better advised to not say this based upon a trailer, but there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly smart, or imaginatively off-beat (which amounts to being smart) on view here. It’s not Monty Python. And so I wonder what strategy this young man is pursuing. His career of late doesn’t compel me to think of him, doesn’t make me wonder what he’ll do next. Compared to Richard Linklater, who is playing in the Hollywood sandbox, but he’s negotiated a rather interesting career for himself. He digs comedy, but his stuff has an edge that is appealing. This really does seem like a Pauly Shore vehicle. How many of these does Green have to do before he’s allowed to pursue his higher artistic muse, if we accept that justification, and after spending so much making movies like this one, is it possible his instincts might be a tad eroded, and not up to the task?
It’s a tough position to be in. Some like Soderberg, Linklater, Van Sant, one foot in Hollywood, the other not, play that game well. We’ll see how Green does.
One thing you have to factor into these first two comedies is that they were written by their stars, Rogen and McBride. It’s almost like they’re just making a movie among friends. Thus, when I hear the least funny lines I’ve heard since that trailer for that Vince Vaughn film I think, “Wow, DGG really is a good friend to have filmed that.” And, actually, as far as comedies go, the worse it looks to me the better it seems to do, financially, so that’s a positive sign for the future if he has something up his sleeve. If not, who cares? I don’t have to see it.
@Caoimhin
Definitely won’t disagree with you on the trailer, it doesn’t look like anything too great (though the triangle face line and the venom bit made me laugh pretty hard.) But as we all know about Hollywood, they are going to pick the moments in the movie they want to show in the trailer, so I’m still interested in seeing what it is like as a whole. And if it does happen to just flat out suck, maybe that will wind up being the catalyst for a return to more personal small-budget independent films from DGG? I for one don’t think he’s made anything yet that’s been 100% intolerable – perhaps he’s due hah.
“Actually british. Natalie Portman is the worse of the lot.”
Franco’s is repulsing to say the least, Portman’s is unacceptable, sure…but Franco’s is to commit seppuku for.
If the accents are bad, I guess those Academy nominations are out the window.
I think inauthentic accents improve films like these, myself.
I think the red band trailer looks great, I laughed a lot and can’t wait to check it out. It looks like a great action/comedy. Of course, it doesn’t look like it was made for the Mubi crowd. Also, “George Washington” is pretty overrated. Just saying.
How should each person rate George Washington, Ryan?
This looks extremely fun and funny. Favorite DGG is definitely George Washington, amazing amazing film.
Caoimhín
David Gordon Green. Came on the scene with “George Washington”. Made a few other films, serious in tone. Even caused some to suggest that he might be an heir to the kind of cinema created by Terrence Malick. Now leap ahead to “Pineapple Express”, and this.